Ultimate Software (Ultimate), a vendor human capital management (HCM) solutions, has entered into a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) for the acquisition of PeopleDoc. Ultimate sees PeopleDoc as being a pioneer in HR Service Delivery.
Based in Paris (France), PeopleDoc has 1,000+ customers with users in 180 countries. The intention is that the addition of the PeopleDoc HR Service Delivery platform to Ultimate will improve the employee experience by offering new, person-centric features such as an online employee help center, HR case management and employee file management.
Scott Scherr, CEO, president, and founder of Ultimate. said: “PeopleDoc’s multi-national team has a proven track record of success and expertise serving global organizations.
“This acquisition will open doors for Ultimate to further expand our presence in international markets. We are looking forward to taking care of PeopleDoc’s employees, as our two amazing cultures create an even stronger organization.”
About PeopleDoc
PeopleDoc has more than 265 employees, with offices in France, Germany, the U.K., Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. PeopleDoc serves over four million end users in total. User customers include:
- Avis Budget Group
- Club Med
- GoDaddy
- HSBC
- Nestle
- Yves Rocher.
The company was founded in 2007 by Jonathan Benhamou and Clément Buyse with the mission of making it easier for HR teams to elevate the level of service they provide to their employees. PeopleDoc’s HR Service Delivery platform enables HR organizations to serve employees anytime, anywhere, with the ability to:
- answer employee requests on demand
- automate employee processes
- manage document acknowledgement, storage, and compliance across multiple global locations.
With less time spent managing time-consuming administrative tasks, HR can focus more time on connecting with the workforce to improve the employee experience and increase engagement at work.
Clément Buyse, co-founder and COO of PeopleDoc said: “We always worked with our employees and customers to develop our products and build our business.
“It’s exciting that our innovation can now be fostered by a community of over 4,000 customers and tens of millions of users. With Ultimate, we will be able to accelerate research and development for HR Service Delivery, including in our Paris innovation hub, to help customers bring to life the workplaces they imagine.”
PeopleDoc transaction details
Ultimate Software plans to acquire PeopleDoc for approximately $300 million, to be paid with a combination of cash and shares of Ultimate Software common stock, with approximately:
- $75 million of cash to be paid at the closing
- $50 million of cash to be paid 12 months after the closing date.
Ultimate Software expects that the PeopleDoc acquisition will have no material impact on Ultimate’s total revenues in fiscal year 2018. Completion of the transaction is subject to entry into the definitive acquisition agreement and other customary closing conditions. Ultimate Software expects the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2018.
After completion
Upon completion of the transaction, PeopleDoc will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ultimate. It will continue to deliver, sell and supporting cloud-based HR Service Delivery solutions that integrate with multiple HCM platforms to organizations based in North America and Europe.
Beginning in January 2019, Ultimate customers will have the option to select HR Service Delivery features as part of the unified UltiPro HCM suite which includes:
- core HR
- payroll
- benefits management
- workforce management
- talent acquisition
- talent management.
When used in conjunction with the UltiPro HCM platform, the new HR Service Delivery options will give Ultimate customers the ability to:
- provide faster, more responsive support to their workforces
- reduce the administrative burden on HR and payroll teams.
For example, the new features will enable customers immediately to:
- process online employee help requests
- serve up personalized answers and guidance to employees automatically in real-time
- route and track the status of employee inquiries
- avoid requiring employees to understand the structure of the HR organization.
“It’s rare to encounter another organization that is such a complementary fit in philosophy, culture, and technology,” said Adam Rogers, chief technology officer at Ultimate.
“As soon as we met Jonathan and Clément, and the incredible team they’ve built, we were struck by the alignment between our two brands, our offerings, and our missions to improve people’s experiences at work. The unique technology solutions they’ve developed will allow our customers to take better care of their employees, which we believe is the single most important ingredient in long-term business success.”
What does this mean
The words sound good. The positive intentions exist. The Ultimate – PeopleDoc fit appears reasonable. As always execution after the transaction closes will be all important.
The PeopleDoc concept is one which matters more and more. To keep customers happy, staff need support. The greater the automation, the better for everyone. And PeopleDoc adds some reputable brand name customers in addition to those millions of users.
